Argument Analysis 5- "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"

Beverly Tatum provokes the controversial subject of racism in today's society. Even after many attempts over hundreds of years, racial grouping is still prevalent in our world. As a psychologist, Tatum can give us as readers another dimension of how humans think and behave and that becomes evident as she explains this issue.

Tatum immediately begins by stating the direction of the article. As we have seen in other arguments she applies the affective technique of using rhetorical questions. This allows a reader to acknowledge the point Tatum is making and then have time to decide how they would answer. She incorporates pathos and logos together by reiterating what happens to children as they begin to mature and interact with each other not only in schools but in the neighborhood as well. She is not only addressing the issue at hand but also giving us insight into psychological reasons why racial grouping may occur.

Tatum tends to follow a template for the essay. She states a point, gives a few examples, follows it with a personal experience by using her son in the essay, then lists the reasons that prove her point. However the template is effective; after the explanation of what happens to children as they mature she breaks up the facts with a real example by using her son. Unfortunately, the conclusion never finishes up the argument. It stops so abruptly the reader almost has to re-read the final paragraph just to find the summation of the article.

While Tatum starts off strong by backing her argument with psychological evidence, her conclusion fails to bring everything together and prevents it from being a strong, convincing argument.